


Anantim

by CarminaVulcana



Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hinduism, Purgatory, life after death, musings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 10:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20044147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarminaVulcana/pseuds/CarminaVulcana
Summary: What do the likes of Bhallaladeva deserve after death?





	Anantim

**Author's Note:**

  * For [avani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avani/gifts), [queenofmahishmati](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofmahishmati/gifts), [arpita](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arpita/gifts).

Afterlife in Hindu beliefs was a complicated matter. Some said the soul transmigrated and took birth in a new body. For others, the journey of a soul ended in either _swarga_ or _naraka_, based on their karma and the judgment passed by Yamaraj. Yet others insisted that the final destination of a soul was moksha; oneness with the Divine. 

The soul itself was a strange thing; existing and yet less than alive, an embodiment of consciousness and yet unable to act, neither physical nor imagination, neither pure energy nor simple matter.

This state of non-being was uncomfortable and awkward for him as he watched the goings on down below, supposedly suspended in air.

The painstakingly carved head of his gold statue hit a rock and the crown chipped a little. A piece of the hair broke off when it crashed against a cliff and fell down the waterfall.

He chose not to watch anymore.

An unsettling silence surrounded him. He longed to put his head down and sleep, but alas! He had no head.

The flickering flames of the _shmashana_ at the gateway of Kailasa terrified him, but somehow, he knew he would not be burned by them.

A phantom ache engulfed him. He screamed in agony and rage, but he could not recall the heat of the pyre that had reduced his sentient body to cinders. Nor could he recall the reason of his rage.

He waited.

Tormented by the unknown.

Afraid of what would become of him, now that he was no more a man, and barely the ghost of whatever he had once been.

No other souls ever came to speak to him. No one asked him questions about his sins. No one even cared that he was here.

It was as if no one else existed.

He wondered briefly if he had gone mad.

But how could he go mad? Humans went mad. Animals went mad. Gods went mad. Demons went mad.

He was none of them.

Maybe… maybe, then, he wasn’t real at all!

Or maybe he was indeed mad, except, he was still trapped in a physical body that his ailing mind could no longer experience or perceive.

For generations, the mist of uncertainty and fear hung over him.

He watched as the boy who had killed him, became a king, a husband, and a father. He watched as the woman he had imprisoned grew old and died surrounded by loved ones.

Errantly, he wondered if her soul would join him here.

But after hours (or days? Weeks?) of waiting, no one came.

Life on earth moved on without her, just as it had moved on without him.

Eventually, the boy died too. As did his wife.

That was the way of the material world. The boy’s children, their children… the cycle continued, and he watched, unable to take interest eventually, as the world changed and everything he had ever known, became a distant memory for the present.

His state worsened. He now had nothing to look at either. What was this place? When would they come for him? When would he be condemned to another life on earth as a worm or a rabid dog for his crimes?

He sometimes longed to weep, just to feel the relief that came with an outpouring of tears. But he never could. When he shouted, no one heard.

In the end, he turned away and stared unseeingly at the sky. His thoughts wandered at times, but he mercilessly quashed them to nothingness.

He would measure eternity with his stillness.

And eternity would measure the length of his punishment in purgatory.


End file.
